Getting started!

I have grown up around Linux and have had people like my dad use it near me my whole life. I even booted a fedora version once on a very old machine when I was younger as a way for my dad to teach me about Linux. Sadly I never really caught on at the time.

I am ready to really jump in now. Is there a beginners guide/pros cons comparison for different distribution of Linux? I am also curious about how well things like matlab, solidworks, and Office suit/libra office work in Linux.

Thank you!